Sweets Earns His Nickel
by pasha54
Summary: Psychology may be a soft science, but Sweets is pretty sharp. He vaguely suspects what may be behind the breaking of Booth's engagement to Bones, and tries to help.
1. Chapter 1

It was difficult for Booth and Tempe to tell their friends about their broken engagement. Both tried to put a brave face on it, and were relieved when (for once) everyone was too distracted by the Pelant case to interrogate them. Everyone that is-except for Sweets, who let them know in no uncertain terms that a partners session with him was mandatory if they were to continue to work together. A broken engagement, he explained, was just too big an emotional hurdle, and he claimed to be serious about separating them if they did not see him.

This was the last thing the broken-hearted partners needed right now, but since their romantic life was so fragile, each was desperate to keep their partnership. So both glumly entered Sweets' office, making sure to sit as far away from each other as possible.

Sweets surprised them by saying "it's odd to say about a room at the FBI, but we are "off-the-grid" here. I swept this place for every kind of bug/camera you can think of". He then added "Dr. Brennan, I think it might be my fault that your engagement is off. Here are the facts: Agent Booth came in here looking inordinately cheerful considering the impact Pelant has had on our lives. I warned him that your marriage would put you the two of you in jeopardy because you would each displace Pelant's importance in the others' lives, and that given his narcissism, he was likely to lash out further. Booth blew me off at the time, but he might have decided, upon reflection, to take my advice. For what it's worth, in my professional opinion, it would be better if you do not get married until we have nailed the bastard. Now I know that Agent Booth does not always take my advice, so my conjecture is that Pelant has done or said something to insidiously tear you apart, and that he has made it impossible for you to discuss it. Pardon me if I am over-stepping my boundaries here; I know you guys are tough, but this guy is a master at messing with people's brains. I'm hoping I can help you avoid that, or at least make you both aware of the possibility that this is going on.

Tempe looked at Booth tearfully and asked "did he"? Booth looked at his shoes, trying to decide if he could let on without having the responsibility of 5 deaths on his hands. Finally, he said, "it would be safer if we slept in separate rooms for the duration, but you are not, under any circumstances allowed to move out. I need to keep you and Christine safe, or my life will be over. It was bad enough when you and Christine had to leave last summer. I wish I could consign Pelant to the third circle of Hell."

Tempe looked at Booth. Booth looked at Tempe. Each face was tear-stained. Brennan noticed that Booth had turned out his pocket slightly and saw the velvet covered box just peeking out…


	2. Chapter 2: Pelant ups the ante

Sweets Earns His Nickel-Chapter 2

I was considering making this story a one-shot, but since I have some people following me, I'll extend the story a bit. Warning: it's going to get more angsty before it gets better. However, since I'm not much of a writer, the story will be short, and there will be hope at the end.

Oh yeah, I don't own Bones. As if.

Christopher Pelant was not only an evil genius, but he managed to get other brilliant people to help him. Somehow he managed to conceal the fact that he would eventually kill his helpers. The latest of these assistants was a biochemist who had concocted an aerosol that could, with care, be confined to impacting just one person or a small group of people. The effects were mainly on emotional stability and clarity of thought processes, and Pelant's target was Temperance Brennan. Pelant managed to time the dispersal of the aerosol just before she reached the 7 mile marker on the hiking trail. At the concentration Pelant was using, the spray was active for 24 hours once it entered the body, but would disperse from the air within minutes.

As strong minded as Temperance was, the aerosol was stronger, and by the time she met Booth at the diner she was, in common parlance, "loaded for bear". Booth knew something was off as soon as he saw her, and she had already been shaken since the severing of their engagement (despite having figured out that it was Pelant inspired).

"You have some nerve" she said in a penetrating voice "asking both Rebecca and Hannah to marry you and refusing to marry me. We've been living together for Heaven's sake. Especially after you put me through hell watching you with that blonde bimbo for months! Although come to think of it, I don't know why I ever thought I wanted to marry someone whose IQ is so much below mine! I certainly didn't do Christine any genetic favors by having you as her father. I should just leave the two of you and get out. She kept on in the same style and just wouldn't shut up.

Booth, of course, was furious, at least at first. It occurred to him almost immediately, however, that this behavior was completely out of character for his beloved, and he became seriously worried, especially since she kept on and on saying pretty much the same thing for half an hour-definitely NOT Brennan-like behavior. He excused himself to go to the bathroom (and Temperance almost followed him in there), and discreetly called Cam. Cam, Angela, and Hodgins somehow managed to get her home, but not without the use of Booth's badge; Brennan kept noisily claiming that she was being kidnapped. Sure enough, when Cam drew some of Brennan's blood, she could tell that something was amiss, but it wasn't anything that she (or anyone she knew for that matter) had seen before. Just in case, Cam sent the blood to the CDC. Fortunately, unlike in Aratsoo's case, Brennan did not seem to be in any physical danger, but she was certainly in no condition to work, or for that matter, to be around people. There was no known antidote, and it was feared that a sedative might react unfavorably with whatever substance was affecting her. However, since no one could stand her raving, Cam eventually gave her a very mild sedative, and she eventually fell asleep. Fortunately (or unfortunately) her condition was not severe enough for her to be admitted to a psych hospital. Booth, Cam, Angela, Hodgins, and eventually Sweets took turns watching Brennan until she regained control of herself, but Booth's (and everyone else's) nerves were rubbed raw. Booth couldn't help being a little angry at Brennan, even though he realized that the incident was not her fault.

When Temperance became herself again, she was, of course, mortified. "It feels like I'm back in New Orleans, although I remember what I said perfectly" she wailed. "Do you realize how frightening it is to be betrayed by my brain? Especially for me, since I still pride myself on my rationality. If I can't trust my mind who am I? How can I trust myself to do my job and be tolerable to, much less be there for, the people I love?" Although her mental lapse was brief, it caused Brennan a crisis of confidence that required several individual sessions with Sweets, who recommended that Temperance see a psychiatrist who could prescribe anti-depressants. The shock of her behavior also increased slightly the fissure in her relationship with Booth.

As if all this weren't bad enough, several days later Booth received another call from Pelant. "Agent Booth" said Pelant, "how nice to talk to you. I've decided that you and Dr. Brennan need to break up. You shouldn't have to put up with the display she put on last week, should you?" "When are you going to realize that you don't have control over my life" growled Booth. "Ah, but I do" purred Pelant. The aerosol that I gave your lovely partner can be made in vastly greater strength and quantity, enough to craze the entire city for months on end. People could get violent. You wouldn't want to be responsible for that now, would you?" Booth was too stunned to say anything.


	3. Chapter 3: Several Shades of Gray

Chapter 3 Several Shades of Gray

**Julianne, Thanks for your comment. I almost deleted chapter 2 in response, but realized that I needed it for chapter 4. Plus, in my natural state, I tend to go somewhat er, overboard.**

**Any outright errors are due to the fact that a) I'm not a scientist b) I'm not sure where I'd look this stuff up on the internet, and most importantly c) I'm lazy. If you catch an error, I'd be happy to correct it if you explain to me how to do it.**

**Clearly, if I were a professional author, I'd have to do better, but the chances of that happening are about the same as those of my ever owning Bones.**

**Thanks to those who have reviewed, faved, and followed.**

I only own Robert Bloomfriar.

Robert Bloomfriar was a brilliant biochemist, but he was naive and greedy. Pelant, claiming to be working for the CIA, had promised him $2 million to secretly develop the mind-altering aerosol that Pelant had used on Brennan. Robert was supposed to deliver the formula for the aerosol and another, much larger quantity of the spray to Pelant (in return for $8 million more) several hours after Pelant directed Booth to break up with Brennan.

Unfortunately for Pelant, Robert did have a conscience, albeit a rudimentary one. By the day he was supposed to deliver the formula, even he could not deceive himself about the risks of delivering weapons into the hands of someone who just claimed to be the CIA. And besides, hadn't the CIA engaged in questionable activities in the past? Bloomfriar, of course, did not have the moral courage to risk the government finding out that he had been engaging in criminally stupid (to put it charitably) activities, but he also did not want complete responsibility if some disaster happened.

It just so happened that Robert's bridge partner, Samuel Peterson, worked for the FBI, and they had a game that night. Samuel noticed that Robert was a bit off his game (literally), but was too polite to ask why; the two were not close. It was only after Robert had left that he realized that a scrap of paper had appeared from nowhere that seemed to have some chemical formulas on it; Samuel tried to call Robert, but Robert, apparently, was not answering his phone.

Samuel Peterson was perhaps not the sharpest knife in the FBI drawer, but the cloak and dagger nature of the paper's arrival suggested to him that there was something dangerously important about it. Thus it came about that scrap of paper fell into Cam's possession about the same time that Bloomfriar was supposed to meet Pelant. Meanwhile, of course, Booth was trying to track down Bloomfriar.

Camille couldn't believe the coincidence. One formula on the scrap matched almost exactly the substance that had been in Temperance's blood when she had gone on her rampage. The difference was that the formula on the piece of paper was much stronger. The other formula appeared to be the antidote. One very nice feature of the situation was that Booth had become aware that they had the antidote before he had time to seriously think about breaking up with Brennan.

Hoping to avoid suspicion (and get the money). Robert Bloomfriar kept his scheduled appointment with Pelant. Unfortunately for both, Robert was a bit careless with the aerosol. The spray went active in the air just as Pelant and Bloomfriar met up, and they both got a healthy dose. Pelant started screaming at Bloomfriar "you're an idiot, you couldn't find your way out of a paper bag", and Bloomfriar countered "well that's better than being a mass murderer". Pelant took out a knife and stabbed Bloomfriar and then hopped in his stolen car, and while under the influence, Pelant flipped the car, cracking his skull. He was able to crawl into the forest right before he lost consciousness.*

The team found Bloomfriar's body and Pelant's blood at the scene. It was determined that Pelant may still have been alive, but would not be bothering them for a while.

* I am trying to be as vague about the science as possible, but I have no idea if there is any plausibility to this scenario. If anyone knows that I am making scientific errors, please tell me. Thanks.


	4. Chapter 4

Several weeks later, Bones and Booth were again in Sweets' office:

Sweets started the conversation. "Dr. Brennan, whenever I see you outside of this office lately, you are wicked quiet. What's going on?"

"I'm still so embarrassed by my display when I was exposed to the XP gas. I can't believe I said those horrendous things to Booth, and I'm still not sure he's forgiven me for the IQ remarks. Neither am I sure that my friends have forgiven me for being such a nuisance. I think everyone feels sorry for me, and this, I cannot tolerate."

"Bones" said Booth, "everyone realizes that wasn't you talking, especially me. But I feel that you punishing yourself for something that you should know, as an extremely rational person, is not your fault. You barely talk to me, recently you've been crying a lot, and no one can get you to eat or sleep. Even Christine knows that something is off with you." Bones just grimaced.

Sweets started."Those are all classic signs of depression."

"Dr. Brennan" he continued "are you acquainted with the work of Carl Jung?" Brennan nodded. "Dr. Brennan, as you know, Jung posited that all of us, even the best of us, have a dark side, a shadow side. In your case, the XP gas brought this out. If I had to guess, I would say that you still have some unconscious resentment about Agent Booth's proposal to Hannah, and fear that you are really Booth's second choice. The IQ stuff was just lashing out. Talk to Agent Booth. I don't think anyone's feelings, especially his, have changed toward you. The sooner you start to engage with everyone, the faster you will start to heal."

" I know that the breakup of our engagement did bring up some feelings for me about the Hannah situation. Booth really dislikes talking about Hannah. Booth dislikes talking about a lot of things. And I'm supposed to be the closed-off one." Brennan scowled.

"Dr. Brennan, you have grown amazingly over the time I've known you in your ability to recognize and articulate your feelings."

"Bones, sweetheart" began Booth. "I don't like to talk about Hannah because I'm ashamed of having acted like such a damned fool when she was in my life. I was devastated because I was sure your "no" answer was final, and I was trying to replace you while making sure to hurt you as much as possible. My proposal to Hannah was my way of trying to prove to myself that I was doing the right thing. I hurt you, myself, and Hannah. I don't think I'll ever get the chance to apologize to Hannah, but I want to make it up to it to you by treasuring you for the rest of our lives. I assume you've figured out by now that Pelant threatened to kill people if I didn't break off our engagement. He was behind your gas induced rampage as well, and he threatened to expose the whole city to a much stronger dose if I didn't break up with you. IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT! NONE OF THIS IS! So baby, please start talking and interacting with us all again. Please start snuggling with me and Christine again. We still love you just as much as we did before, and we miss you."

Temperance was silent for a minute and then she sighed. "Yes, I know that it is irrational for me to blame myself for my outburst. The frightening part is that I feel that Pelant violated my mind, almost that he raped me, metaphorically of course."

"And that is exactly why I feel that an anti-depressant might be good for you right now" said Sweets. "There is a theory that as traumas, physical and emotional, accumulate in our life history, they change the chemistry of our brains, and we become more and more susceptible to depression, especially without chemical intervention.* As strong as you are, and as many losses as you have weathered in your life, you have never sustained an assault on your being quite like the ones Pelant has inflicted on you. And this is not to mention the suffering inflicted on the people watching "Bones" on television. At the end of last season, you were charged with murder and had to leave Booth, and at the end of this one, you propose to Booth and have the engagement broken. If we don't get Pelant soon, our entire viewership is going to be on anti-depressants!" (I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist. Back to being serious now.)

"Have you started taking the medication yet, Dr. Brennan?"

"The good news is that it has started to work. I can now concentrate again, and I don't cry all the time anymore. The bad news is that my word recall has suffered and I cannot think as clearly as usual."

Sweets smiled. "Dr. Brennan, I am sure that you can do your job just fine, even being slightly less sharp than usual. I can understand that it must be frustrating. You are getting a taste of what the rest of the world feels like."

"I guess I deserved that" Brennan smirked "given the number of times I've slighted the intelligence of others. Booth, I must have really been obnoxious to you at times. I don't know how you put up with it. Even if you aren't a genius, you are plenty intelligent. I am learning that being slightly less intellectually gifted than I was does not make me incompetent."

Booth smiled "you have always had empathy for the suffering of others. Now you have empathy with those who struggle because they are merely "intelligent" rather than genius-level."

"Dr. Brennan" said Sweets, this may seem like an odd suggestion, but I think a meditation practice would complement your growing ability to deal with your inner world outside of the cerebral."

"Hmm, I know that many cultures use meditation for spiritual and medicinal purposes. I should consider trying that."

Booth smirked. "If you are going to meditate, you're doing it on your own. No way I'm going to sit around chanting OM". Brennan, bumped him with her shoulder and smiled.

As Booth and Brennan left, Sweets was elated to see that they were holding hands.

**One of the things that still irritates me about Brennan is her intolerance of any intellectual activity that isn't top drawer. One can do useful intellectual work without having the genetic endowment of genius.**

*Paraphrased from "Listening to Prozac" by Peter D. Kramer, 1993. He calls it "kindling" of depression, that occurs with less and less outside stimulation as traumas pile up without medical intervention. Of course, some doctors believe that medication is overused for depression, but I imagine that psychiatry is a "harder" science than psychology, and that Brennan might accept the medication.


	5. Chapter 5 Epilogue

Well, this is the last chapter (epilogue).

Booth and Brennan took the evidence that Pelant was out of commission as an excuse to get away for a while. They left Christine with Brennan's dad, as they knew they would need some alone time to heal their battered relationship. They flew to Jamaica, rode to their resort, changed into their swimming gear (she in a scanty bikini), and promptly plopped themselves on lounge chairs on the sparkling beach, each with the alcoholic beverage of his or her choice.

"If we find a corpse here", said Brennan, "it will just have to find its own cause of death. "Wow, I never thought I'd hear that from you" said Booth. You are becoming almost human in your old age." This resulted in a mild jab from Brennan's elbow. In retaliation, Booth threw Brennan into the ocean and jumped in after her. They started a splashing fight, which became a wrestling match, and then an amorous wrestling match until Brennan yelped "I'm hungry Booth". The two went to their room to change for dinner.

Temperance emerged in a dress that brought out her eyes and showed off to advantage her curves. Booth asked "How do you manage to get more beautiful every time I look at you?" "The same way you get more pleasing to look at whenever I look at you. My love for you grows no matter what circumstances we undergo." "Sometimes, it seems that we can never catch a break" complained Booth. I guess we wouldn't be us if we did anything the easy way."

Dinner was delicious, but both partners were anxious to get back to the room for dessert-and more breaking of the laws of physics.

THE END

Okay, I'd better end this before we find out that Pelant is going after Christine, that he'd found some way to ensure that Booth and Brennan's lives could be made hell even if he was dead or….

I'm starting a new fanfic called "Bone Gets Religion…Sort Of" or something like that.


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